Dang gui san
dang gui 12 bai shao 12 chuan xiong 12 huang qin 12 bai zhu 6
For pregnant women, it is indicated to often take dang gui san.
It treats a mild blood deficiency and cools the san jiao and jue yin.
Dang gui, bai shao, and chuan xiong form the trio of blood nourishing and moving. It is a jue yin and shao yang formula. It cools the jue yin blood level and clears the heat in the ministerial fire.
Dang gui and bai shao balance each other in nourishing blood and yin. Dang gui is warm and bai shao is cool. Dang gui moves blood and bai shao clams the movement.
Dang gui, Angelicae sinensis radix is sweet tonifying and nourishing of liver blood and the ministerial fire. It is pungent dispersing of the liver blood and ministerial fire.
Dang gui is the core jue yin liver blood storage herb. Dang gui tonifies blood and nourishes the liver while moving blood and transforming stasis and so protects the jue yin liver blood from heat.
Bai shao, Paeoniae radix lactiflora is sour, bitter and cool. It is sour collecting of yin fluids and blood. It is bitter descending of heat. It nourishes dryness in yang ming and the jue yin. It descends Earth and Metal and calms Wood wind.
The sour and astringing nature softens and calms liver qi and wind by replenishing it yin blood.
Chuan xiong, Ligustici radix is pungent dispersing of the liver and pericardium blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao.
Chuan xiong is used to move the liver qi to move the liver blood. It moves blood by moving the propelling qi contained within blood but does not strongly eliminate stasis. As such it is a safe blood mover provided it is combined with dang gui and bai shao.
Huang qin, Scutellaria radix is bitter draining and cooling of heat in the san jiao, stomach domain, lungs, liver, gall bladder, and bladder.
Huang qin is used for its affinity with shao yang and jue yin channels where it clears excessive fire flaring upwards, and greatly cools blood to arrest bleeding.
Bai zhu, Atractylodis macrocephalae rhizome is sweet tonifying of the stomach domain and spleen. Bai zhu is bitter draining of excess fluids in the stomach domain, spleen, lungs and bladder.
Bai zhu dries the middle burner and constructs the spleen. It metabolizes fluids and so creates room for healthy new fluids.
Bai zhu descends Earth and Metal to control Wood.